The Living Dead
by PeaceConnor123
Summary: A Group of ordinary people face extraordinary problems when a zombie virus hits. Take a look into their lives and watch how they survivor this horrifying new world.
1. Chapter 1 - Tomorrow is a New Day

**January 2nd 2015, the Solanum virus broke out in New York when Denise Smith caught a disease… The doctors have never seen the virus before, and wanted to document her disease. So they did, and they saw virus cells destroying brain cells. They knew this disease was fatal, but they kept observing her. A nurse came into the room to give Denise her dinner, but little did the nurse know that SHE would be Denise's dinner. As soon as the nurse walked into the room, Denise took a bite out of the nurse's neck. When a doctor came to observe Denise he was shocked to see that Denise was eating the corpse of the nurse. The Doctor screamed and tried to run away, but before he could Denise grabbed the man's foot and bit it. The man fell and Denise moved on to eating him. The female nurse got up and soon, the whole hospital was infected with the Solanum virus. Soon the virus spread to New York, to the whole United States, to the whole world. Millions, probably billions, of zombies walk the world, but not everyone has died… And this is where our story begins.**

**December 5th, 2020.**

**Jack's POV**

Hey, I'm Jack. I'm a survivor of the Solanum virus, known as Virus Z. I currently live in a small town in Illinois, with the population around 50. I'm 18, and I've been slaying zombies since I was 13. My Grandma and I are on the patrol team, while my Grandpa, Dad, and my brother, Dawson, are on the watch team, but sometimes they go hunting instead. I don't get why you would hunt zombies down, but apparently they seem to like it so I'll let them be… Oh, and my Mom helps run the barter system. I live in my parent's house for now, but I like to visit my Grandma a lot. I spend most of my time at her house. The reason I don't have my own house is that I don't really see the point… Living alone in a zombie apocalypse? I'll pass. Anyways, I was on patrol with my grandma, we also took her dog on a walk with us. Murphy is the dog's name. He's an energetic little guy. Anyways, we weren't really paying attention because nothing ever happens during the night here… Everyone seems afraid of the dark now, but I'm not. At least not anymore. When we didn't have this town, my group of 10 would have to sleep on the hard, cold ground, with 2 people always having to watch, shifts were hard. 3 of our group died, luckily not any in my family, and my best friend Jake also made it. He lives by himself. My grandma and I were talking and watching Murphy. For a winter night, it wasn't very cold outside. My grandma and I went to walk to the city walls and found my grandpa and my dad, watching guard.

"Hey dad and grandpa." I said.

"Hey Jack, what's up?" My dad asked.

"Nothing really, we just wanted to stop by before we take another lap around."

"That's cool. Oh, and your mother wanted me to ask you if you're going to come home or stay at grandma's house tonight?"

"Grandma, can I stay?" I ask her.

"Sure." She says.

"Thanks grandma. I'm staying with her for tonight dad." I say.

"Okay Jack, have a nice night if I don't see you until the morning."

"Night dad!" I say. We wave goodbye and continue with the patrol. We take our final lap, and then we go back to the house for the night. I stay up for a little, and go to bed at midnight.

**John's POV**

Hey, I'm John. Jack's dad. After Jack left, I started talking to my dad while sniping a few zombies. The watch was pretty boring tonight, but when isn't it boring? I rather be safe than be bored though. I was talking about Jack with my dad, and all of a sudden I hear a scream and a gunshot.

"Dad, stay here. I'm going to check this out. Keep guard." I say

"Be careful son." He tells me. I nod and jump off the wall. I look over at my mom's house, I see Jack getting his dagger and crossbow ready. He already has his katana with him, I'm pretty sure he carries it with him wherever he goes.

"What was that?" Jack asked me.

"I don't know. Where's your grandma?" I ask

"She was getting her pistol and knife." Jack said.

"Okay. Lets go check this out." I say. We made it and saw a guy with a gunshot through his head. A lady is next to him crying. I can see blood dripping from her hand.

"What happened Ma'am?" I say, kneeling next to her.

"My.. My husband.. He.. committed suicide and when he turned he came after me.. I'm bit… Please shoot me.. Please.." She says

"Jack, go get a first aid kit quick. We need to cut her arm off to stop the disease from spreading!" I tell him. He goes and runs

"No please… Just give me the gun…" She says

"I will not let you die!" I say.

"Give… It… To… Me!" She says and grabbed my gun, put it to her head, and pulled the trigger.

"Damn it." I say. Jack returned with the first aid.

"What happened dad?" Jack asked.

"She took my gun and shot herself… Help me carry these bodies out of here." I say. Jack got the girl's corpse and I got the guy's corpse. We tell my dad to open the gate for a second and we lay them outside. We go back inside and Jack leaves. My dad asks me what happened, and I told him everything.

"Thats horrible. I'll cover the rest of your shift… You should go to bed." My dad said.

"Thanks Dad." I say and walk to my house. I start to think of what happened… Then I think about my former group members who have died. Michelle… Diana… Robert… All gone. Michelle died during the night because she was sick.. Diana was her victim. I had to kill both of them. Diana was Robert's wife. After her death, Robert went into a depression, which ended with him hanging himself. I opened the door to my house and locked it. I went upstairs to see my wife in bed. I smiled to see that she was still safe. _Tomorrow is a new day_ I tell myself. Tomorrow is a new day.


	2. Chapter 2 - Dawson's Drama

**December 6th, 2020**

**Jack's POV**

I look out the window while thinking to myself. _The two deaths last night… We haven't had any deaths in what? At least half of a year? Considering the circumstances, that's a good amount of time. Why would Steven just go out and kill himself? _I feel like I'm overthinking this. I go outside with my katana and walk around, looking for danger. I see my dad and wave. He looked pretty shook up. He waved back though. All of a sudden I made up my mind that I didn't want to be outside. It felt wrong. The sun was out, but the world seemed dark. I hooked up my Xbox and started playing. I forgot to mention that our town has solar power. The main generator is set so that you can't turn any lights on during the day, and each house has 3-5 outlets for other things such as ovens, video game systems, pretty much anything that needs to be plugged in. Anyways I started playing the Xbox and fell asleep.

**Dawson's POV**

Hey, I'm Dawson. I'm 15, and I'm on the watch and hunt teams. Currently I'm on watch with my friend Jake. We took turns shooting zombies and started to talk about video games, and then about girls. All of a sudden they hear a voice behind them

"I need to get out of here… Let me out of here!" A guy says in a shaky voice.

"Woah, wait up there. Are you okay?" Jake said to the man.

"I need to get out of this town man!" The man says, now shaking

"What is your name?" Jake said

"Its Trevor.. Now let me out!"

"Okay Trevor, why do you want to leave?"

"This town has driven me to the point where I rather take my chances outside."

"Can you explain in more detail Trevor?" Jake says. Trevor then takes out a knife

"Let. Me. Through." Trevor says.

"No need for fighting now… Put the knife down, Trevor." Jake says. Jake and I pull our guns up and pointed it at him.

"Okay…" Trevor starts to put his knife on the ground but then he gets up and stabs Jake in the stomach.

"Jake!" I scream. I shoot Trevor in the head and pick Jake up

"Dawson…" Jake barely is able to get out

"Hold on. I'll get you to the doctor."

"No… Let me die…" He says, coughing up blood afterwards. I pick him up and go down the ladder as fast as I can, at least with him in my arms.

"I will not let you die!" I say, running faster. I reach the doctor and I tell him what happens

"Okay. I got him patched up as best as I can. For now he will stay with me until I get him in better condition. He will have to be off watch for a few days, possibly a week." The doctor says.

"Thanks doctor. If you need me to get anything, just tell me."

"Thanks Dawson, nothing for now though." He says. I say goodbye and leave. I'm so relieved that I got Jake there in time, that was close. I looked at Trevors dead body. I spit on it and kicked it off the wall. I sit on the wall, with no one to talk to. I asked someone to cover for me, and I started walking out of the town to go hunting.

**John's POV**

I heard a gunshot and went to check it out. By the time I got there, I didn't see anyone so I turned back. Dawson came to me and asked if we could go hunting. I said yes, and my dad opened up the gate for us. I said goodbye and we went to the forest. Dawson killed a few zombies with his axe. I used my knife to stab a few zombies. We saw a deer and shot it, and Dawson fended off zombies until I tied it up and we ran back. My dad opened the gate and we got in. I went to the market and said hey to my wife, Mary, and gave her a kiss. I then gave the deer to the market for a little bit of food. I was happy. I went back to my guard post and shot some zombies for a while.

**Dawson's POV**

I was feeling better than I did before I went hunting. I needed to go see Jake, and if he was awake I could tell him about the deer I got. I went to the doctor's office. As soon as I opened the door, I saw Jake biting into the doctor. The doctor took a pair of grooming scissors nearby and stabbed it into Jake's skull. The doctor slumped to the ground and started coughing up a lot of blood.

"What happened Doc?" I ask, crying.

"We… Were… Attacked.." The doctor said, now gurgling on his own blood. He spit it out and took a breath.

"Who? Who did this to you?" I ask

"He.. Has been the one who… who committed the first 2 deaths.. He.. He sent that kid to kill Jake… And then he came here to… to finish the.. job…" The doctor says.

"Who is it?" I say with urgency. I know he doesn't have much time.

"Its.. Its.." the doctor started but couldn't go on. His eyes shut and his body went limp. I started to cry some more, not only because my lost friend, but the doctor and the two others, and how I was so close to finding out why there was so many deaths. But now I know that someone here is insane, and I need to find out who it is before my family gets hurt. I stab the doctor before he can turn, and then I leave the doctor's office. I decided I had enough for today and played Xbox for a while, and then I fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3 - The Assassin

**December 7th, 2020**

**Dawson's POV**

I told Jack, Dad, Grandpa, Grandma, and Mom about the problem.

"We need to get rid of this guy then." Grandma says.

"How do we tell the town to be careful without freaking them out?" Mom says

"I don't know… We need to find this guy before he hurts more people." I say

"I got it!" Jack shouts. We all look at him. "Okay. Well I assume that people know about everyone turning, so why don't we just tell them to stay inside because zombies got in?"

"We can try it." Grandma says.

I get everyone together to talk to them "So as some of you have heard, some zombies have gotten in and infected some of our people," I hear murmurs in the crowd but keep going "but we can't get bit guys. I want us to think about some things. You don't have to follow them, but not only would it protect you, but it would be easier on the watch and patrol if we don't to put the dead down. So lock your doors and only go outside for something important. If you do go outside, watch your back. Everyone who has a job to do in the town will be doing that job. But we have 20 citizens and 25 people on the watch and patrol teams. So we are going to have 1 person on each wall, and then everyone will get a guard to travel with them. That will leave 1 guard to get rest. If you don't have a guard, please tell someone. If you are working in a place with more than one person, your guard will leave. The empty houses are going to be where most of the guards will stay from now on. If you decide to stay in your house, the guards will not be allowed into your house unless you invite them in. Also, the guards will take you to your home at 9 P.M each night. Lock your doors and windows to ensure safety. Thats all, everyone can go about their business now." after that mouthful, I went to take a nap

**Jack's POV**

After listening to Dawson, I helped get everyone a guard. Dawson got the break, while Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, and I watch the walls. This endless rotation keeps me less bored, and it seems to keep the mystery killer out too. He is sly though, he will find a way to kill someone. I just have to keep my eye out. I go to wake Dawson up and take my shift off.

**Mary's POV**

Hi, I'm Mary. John's wife. I lead the bartering system in this town, and I run most of the strategical moves around the town, even though there isn't that much to plan out anymore. The guard I got is really good because he used to help out around the market before he became a part of the watch team. I wish I would have gotten family but they are working the walls, so thats fine. My job is usually easy, everything has a price and the people know that. I don't budge easily. All of our equipment, food, and other miscellaneous objects are in the locked bartering room. Anyways, I walk outside to check on everyone at the walls. They all seem fine, so I work some more.

**John's POV**

When I got up on the wall today, I think I probably worried more about everyone else on the wall instead of worrying about zombies on my side. I saw Mary come out and I waved, and blew her a kiss. She pretended to receive it and I smiled. I seemed more focused and started to shoot all the zombies around. The number of zombies seems to be increasing each day, because usually there are 15-20 zombies each day, but today was probably 20-30. But thats okay, I can take them. I shoot them down, and soon there is no more zombies. Today was slow, even with the increase in zombies. As soon as I thought no one would die today, I heard a scream from the market. It didn't sound like Mary's scream but I rushed in anyways. I jumped off the wall and hurt myself a little but I kept going. I rushed to the market district and I didn't see Mary anywhere, but I saw a zombie lady biting a guard. He shoved her off and shot her in the head. I shot the guard in the head and checked around for Mary.

"John! Over here!" I heard Mary say behind the counter. I ran over to her

"Mary! Are you alright? Are you bit?" I asked.

"I'm fine John. I didn't even see the zombie girl, though. Michael was helping me with the supplies and the zombie girl bit him first. I ducked right next to them and grabbed my shotgun just incase I needed it. I didn't see anyone come in here with a knife or anything." Mary said.

"Mary, I think we have an assassin on our hands." I say.


	4. Chapter 4 - Down In Numbers

**December 10th, 2020**

**Jack's POV**

"We want to leave!" Shouts somebody from the crowd.

"Yeah! Let us leave!" Someone else shouts. In the past 3 days, 4 people have died. People have started to get scared to the point where they want to take their chances outside the walls. Out of the 40 people we have here, 20 want to leave. Its sad.

"Let us go now!" I hear a women shout

"You guys don't to go out there. You won't survive." I say.

"We rather take our chances out there than in here! Let us go!" a man shouts. Everyone starts shouting and even a shot was fired at me. All of a sudden there were 3 shots and everyone looked around. It was my mom.

"Okay listen everyone. I know times have gotten tough in here, but if you want to survive, you would stay here. You don't know how bad it is out there, and how bad it has gotten since we've been out there. But if you really want to go, You will leave now. Jack, open the gates." Mom says. I open the gates and everyone takes one last look at the town before trning and going away.

"Mom… They won't survive out there with the little ammunition they have." I say

"I didn't want them to raid my barter shop or else I would have told them. Its want they wanted, Jack. And who knows? Maybe its okay out there."

"Mom you know its not."

"I'm sorry Jack, it had to be done." She says and walks away. That is that I guess.

**Mary's POV**

I know I shouldn't have let them go, but I knew if I didn't someone would get hurt… And not to be selfish, but it gives of less supplies to ration and less people to deal with. The assassin could still be here, or out there killing those poor people… But I can't worry about that now… I get everyone together to see how many people are left. 5 citizens and 15 guards left.. This will be better. I go back to the store with my new guard, who knows nothing about bartering. I work all day, and nothing happens. I go home and see that my husband is sleeping but Dawson and Jack are still awake. I go to bed.

**December 11th, 2020**

**Mary's POV**

I wake up in the morning. I go downstairs to eat breakfast. John, Dawson, and Jack are already there, John and Dawson just finished eating. They went outside to guard.

"Mom, did we do the right thing yesterday?" Jack asks me.

"It can go both ways Jack. On one side of it, we have that they wanted to leave and we let them. The other side is that they probably won't survive…" I say.

"Alright Mom. Have a nice breakfast." Jack says and I say that i'll see him later. I start eating breakfast and I hear the door opening and John walks in

"Hi Hunny-" I begin but he interrupts me.

"Your dad is dead. The Assassin got the 4 guards that were on the wall last night"


	5. Chapter 5 - It Might Work Out

**December 11th, 2020**

**Mary's POV**

"Your dad is dead. The Assassin got the 4 guards that were on the wall last night" He says. I gasp and start to cry. I see Jack run in the room but he sees that John is already here, and he bows his head. I go outside to look at my dad. My mom comes up and I see she is crying. Hard.

"Mom I'm so sorry…" I say

"Its already child, it wasn't your fault." she says. She breaks down crying and I give her a hug. We get him out and bury him… I decided to take the day off from the market today.I feel so empty now… I go home and take a nap, even though I woke up an hour earlier.

**Jack's POV**

Today was a sad day for everyone… I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in my family who hasn't cried yet. Grandpa and I didn't really bond, we liked doing two different things for the past 3 years. I still loved him though, and I'm really sad. With 16 people left in this town, I'm going to trust no one except my family. I kill a few zombies and decide to go around and investigate. I find nothing suspicious. I go to my grandma's house to comfort her. I'm going to stay with her for a few days, until she feels a little better. Today was boring though, and time goes by fast.

**December 12th 2020**

**Jack's POV**

Today I wake up to screaming. Its dark outside, even though its 9 A.M. I look outside and see that there is a guy shooting dead bodies. I get dressed and start sneaking behind houses so that I could sneak attack. I take a look and see that he has killed 4 people. I see Dawson on the ground, with the assassin on top of him

"Dawson, you escaped me the first time, but this time you won't. I will kill you, even if it means me dying. Rest in hell" He says. He brings the knife up and I rush in, I stab him through the neck with my katana. He starts to gurgle and choke, and he presses a button. After he presses it, all I hear is explosions. He blew up all four of the gates! I look outside and see increasing amounts of zombies on all sides. We have been having zombie problems lately, and the gunshots and screams probably didn't help. I take out 2 with my crossbow and 5 more with my katana. Soon I hear shots behind me. Dawson got up and shot the assassin to finish the job. Grandma and Dad made it outside too. I saw Mom but she wasn't shooting.

"There are too many zombies out here! We need to get out of this town!" I say. I can't believe I'm saying this.. This place has been 3 years of my life… But I can't think about that now. I find 2 more survivors hiding outside crying. Two more were looking out the window. I went inside and got them. I saw a guard who was injured and helped him up. Our new group of 10 couldn't find any more people, at this point I don't know if that was all of us. I slash a few zombies that were in our path and I leave. I couldn't look behind me. Once I was in the clear I looked back. Everyone was behind me but one person. I was going to go back but I heard a scream, almost a screech. I saw a girl who was running but a zombie I didn't kill bit her in the leg while it was on the ground. She fell, and all the zombies around her started biting her. Soon the zombies from the other 3 gates were in the town. They tried to get into a few homes. They busted a few down. I saw a guy run out of a house.

"Here! Come Here!" I scream.

"My wife was bit! My wife was bit!" He screamed.

"Come here!" I shouted with ergency.

"Help us!" I heard him say. More zombies were noticing us.

"We have to leave! Now! Come on!" I say, looking behind me.

He started to say something but a female zombie, probably his wife, came out from the house and bit his neck. He screamed and she pulled him back into the house. I turn around and start running with my group of 9. We run down the deserted road that leads to, or did lead to, our town. We ran until we couldn't run anymore, and we set up camp soon. We were telling stories and cooking food when we heard a rustling in the woods. I picked up my katana and crossbow and went looking. I found a guy. He was alive

"Please help… I mean no harm. I'm all alone, I saw a fire and came to see if you guys could help me." He coughs a few times.

"Sure. What's your name?" I say. When I think about it, I don't know anyone's name in my group except my family's names.

"My name is Joe." He said.

"Well Joe, would you like to join our group?" I ask

"Sure. Thank you so much!" He says, and I see he smiles and then it makes me smile. We walk back to camp.

"Hey guys, meet another member of our group, Joe. Everyone, introduce yourselves to our new friend." I say. At least I don't have to come clean and say I don't know anyone's names. After my family goes, I catch the names of the 4 people in our group I don't know.

"I'm Sarah" a brunette haired girl says.

"I'm Clara" a blonde haired girl says.

"I'm Michelle" a black haired girl says.

"And I'm Carson." The guard says.

"Oh, and I'm Connor." I tell Joe.

"Nice to meet you all." Joe says. After we eat, we decide to go to bed. Maybe this won't be so bad. Maybe it won't be as nice at being in the town a year ago, but it might work out. I hope.


End file.
